Why Do We Say That?

LAMB TO THE SLAUGHTER
This is from Isaiah 53:7 'He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter'. Later this verse was applied to Jesus.

TO SEE A MAN ABOUT A DOG
This phrase first appeared in 1866 in a play by Dion Boucicault (1820-1890) called the Flying Scud in which a character makes the excuse that he is going 'to see a man about a dog' to get away.

TAWDRY
This is a corruption of St Audrey because cheap jewellery was sold at St Audrey's fair in Ely, Cambridgeshire.

EAT DRINK AND BE MERRY
This old saying is from Ecclesiastes 8:15 'a man has no better thing under the sun than to eat and to drink and be merry'.

FAST AND LOOSE
Traditionally if you wanted archers to halt and not shoot arrows you shouted 'Fast!'. Archers also 'loosed' arrows. So if you played fast and loose you said one thing and did another.

FLASH IN THE PAN
Muskets had a priming pan, which was filled with gunpowder. When flint hit steel it ignited the powder in the pan, which in turn ignited the main charge of gunpowder and fired the musket ball. However sometimes the powder in the pan failed to light the main charge in that case you ha a flash in the pan.